The present invention relates to compositions in which substances of plant or botanical origin are present which substances have important metabolic properties and functions for use in connection with human health care. More particularly, the present invention relates to extracts of oats and nettle plants and food supplement compositions containing same, pharmaceutical preparations containing these extracts and methods for using same.
The plant known asAvena sativa L. (Fam. Gramineae), or more commonly known as oats, has been known in the past for its therapeutic properties. As described in the British Herbal Pharmacopoeia, published by the British Herbal Medicine Association 1976, part 1, page 27, avena consists of the dehusked and rolled starchy seed endosperm ofAvena sativa L. (Fam. Gramineae). This product contains much starch, some protein and a little fat which contains some tocopherol. It is a creamy white and buff, flaky mass with a mealy taste. It consists of mainly starch in ovate compound grains of 2 to many rounded-poly-hedral grains, with many single grains of which some are lemon- or spindle-shaped, the individual grains being from 3 to 12 .mu.m. On clearing the starch, oil globules are visible, and an aleurone layer of thick-walled cells with granular contents adjoining a layer of thin-walled, elongated cells in which occur a few thick-walled, small, circular cells. U.S.D., 22nd Edn., p. 208-9.
The nettle plant is more precisely referred to as Urtica (Stinging Nettle) and consists of the dried aerial parts of Urtica dioica L. (Fam. Urticaceae) which is gathered during the flowering period. The plant is a native British herb which may be up to 150 cm tall. It is upright and has stinging hairs with ovate, usually cordate, toothed leaves bearing insignificant axillary heads of green flowers.
Urtica contains indolic compounds including histamine and 5-hydroxytryptamine and various acids including ascorbic acid.
The cut herb has leaf pieces wrinkled and rolled of various shades of dark green, bearing obvious stinging hairs. Stem pieces are ridged, hollow, perhaps split, hairy, and pale green-brown in appearance. It may cause a skin irritation if handled.
As described in the British Pharmacopoeia, p. 217, the microscopical appearance is:
Covering trichomes unicellular, up to 700 .mu.m long, slender and conical, often curved. Glandular trichomes, few, over veins, on the lower surface, with short unicellular stalks, and small, rounded heads of 2 to 4 cells. Stinging hairs unicellular, elevated on a multiseriate base, conical, up to 2 mm long, thick-walled, pointed, with an apex which is readily broken away, very birefringent. Leaf epidermis with sinuous anticlinal walls, some cells containing dense, granular, non-birefringent cystoliths of calcium carbonate. Stomata anomocytic. Calcium oxalate clusters, small, scattered, birefringent.
It is reported to be anti-haemorrhagic and have hypoglycaemic properties.
In a recent publication by K. Schmidt in Fortschr. Med., 101, pp. 713-716 (1983), the action of radix urticae extracts on sexual hormone binding globulin of the blood plasma in benign prostatic hyperplasia was demonstrated. The study refers to the interaction of an extract of radix urticae with sexual hormone binding globulin of the blood plasma and with androgen receptor of the prostatic cytosol. It was shown that the binding of 5-alpha-dihydrotestosterone with the binding protein can be influenced by the extract of radix urticae (nettle root).
As disclosed by Fukushima et al in the Tohoku J. exp. Med., 1976, Vol. 119, pp. 115-122, Avena sativa can be extracted and treated to obtain a purified substance with luteinizing hormone (LH) releasing activity. In carrying out this process, the young oat leaves are passed through a food chopper and then treated in hot distilled water for a period of time. The oat leaf extract is then collected, adjusted to pH of 5.7 with acetic acid and then filtered into a chromatographic column.
The substance was demonstrated to have a luteinizing hormone releasing activity by the ovarian ascorbic acid depletion method using Wistar-Imamichi strain rats. The evidence in the Journal was that the action is in adenohypophysis. The experiments reveal that extracts of oats are capable of potentiating lordotic behavior in the ovariectomized, estrogen primed female rat. The potentiation of behavior can be obtained with a dose as small as 0.25 cc of substance injected subcutaneously. It does not possess estrogenic activity in that the oats extract cannot be substituted for estrogen priming to obtain mating behavior. The facilitation of sexual behavior begins approximately five hours after subcutaneous administration and lasts until approximately eight hours of administration. It has been found to increase plasma LH levels at 10 minutes post-IV infusion. It has been observed to increase plasma follicle stimulating hormone FSH levels at 10 and 20 minute post-infusion intervals while it had no consistent effect on plasma prolactin PRL levels.
It is an object of the present invention to provide compositions comprising oats and nettle extracts suitable for use as a food supplement.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide pharmaceutical formulations containing oats and nettle extracts.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide methods of treating conditions and/or dysfunctions in warm-blooded mammals, such as humans, utilizing formulations containing oats and nettle extracts.